


As we huddle together, the storm raging outside

by Persiflage



Series: The Ways You Said 'I Love You' [4]
Category: Holby City
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bernie's Love Nest Cottage, Canon Schmanon, Charlotte Dunn (Mentioned), Cheerfully Ignoring Any and All Canon as the Lord Intended, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/F, Implied Sexual Content, Prompt Fic, Romantic Fluff, Thunderstorms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:02:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24332509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persiflage/pseuds/Persiflage
Summary: Bernie takes Serena away for a romantic weekend at her 'love nest' cottage.
Relationships: Serena Campbell/Bernie Wolfe
Series: The Ways You Said 'I Love You' [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1750207
Comments: 8
Kudos: 51





	As we huddle together, the storm raging outside

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ktlsyrtis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ktlsyrtis/gifts), [sevtacular](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevtacular/gifts), [Regency](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Regency/gifts), [Bat_and_Breakfast](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bat_and_Breakfast/gifts), [Kayryn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kayryn/gifts).



> Written for _The Ways You Said ‘I Love You’_ list of prompts. I don't think I've got Bernie's 'love nest' cottage into a fic before, and it's about time!

“Not quite the romantic weekend getaway I had planned,” Bernie says ruefully as thunder crashes overhead yet again, then a flash of lightning lights up the interior of the cottage to which she’d brought Serena just a few hours ago. She continues lighting the candles set along the mantlepiece above the fireplace, glad that she’d already got the fire going before this storm started.

“It doesn’t matter, love,” Serena says, continuing to clear the table in the kitchen/dining area off the main room. “Anyway, candlelight and firelight are considered by many to be the epitome of romance.”

Bernie snorts. “Sure, but usually when one can always turn the lights back on whenever one chooses.” She finishes lighting the candles, glad that the last time Charlotte visited (and Bernie deliberately doesn’t think about how long ago that was) had insisted that the cottage’s decor would benefit from such things as fat white candles guaranteed to last for hours.

“I like it,” Serena says, coming out of the kitchen area and wrapping her arms around Bernie. “I like this place, and I very much more than like you.”

That makes the blonde smirk a bit, having her own words quoted back to her. “I’m glad you like this place,” she says. “Other than Charlie, you’re the only person I’ve ever brought here.”

“Really?” Serena guides them over to the sofa and they snuggle together, Bernie drawing the large, teal coloured throw (another of Charlotte’s suggestions) down over them, not that it’s really needed since the room is warming up nicely. “You never brought Marcus here for a romantic break?”

Bernie snorts again. “No. It wouldn’t have been his idea of a break, romantic or otherwise, when there’s no golf course nearby.”

Serena winces at that. “Why only Charlotte, and not both the children?”

“Well, I didn’t inherit it from my great aunt until Charlie was 15, but I was overseas at the time, so by the time I got back and could visit it, Charlie was 16 and bringing her here was a nice post-GCSE break for her. And Cam was already at university and not as interested in spending time with his mother, newly returned from serving overseas or not, as he was in shacking up for the summer with his latest girlfriend.”

Serena squeezes her gently, as if sensing this is a bit of a sore spot for Bernie. 

“Most of the more homely touches around here – like this throw and those candles – were Charlie’s idea actually. She’s got much more of an eye for that sort of thing than I’ve ever had. She even, briefly, considered going into interior design before Law called to her.” 

“You must miss her very much,” Serena says, and Bernie can’t help wondering if her sadness about her daughter’s absence from her life is that evident, or if it’s just another example of Serena’s ready empathy.

“Yes and no,” Bernie says, then waits out another crash of thunder, this one not immediately overhead. “Obviously, I got used to not seeing much of my family while I was overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan. But I still heard from them regularly. Now she won’t even answer my texts or emails.”

“She’ll come around eventually. I’m sure of it.”

“Maybe,” Bernie says doubtfully.

Serena clicks her tongue. “I think it’s time for a distraction,” she says, and shifts so that she’s straddling Bernie’s outstretched legs. She kisses her deeply, hands slipping inside Bernie’s button down shirt and stroking across her stomach. Then she sits back on Bernie’s thighs and pulls off her silk blouse, then her camisole top, and Bernie surges upright to kiss her, swiftly unfastening her bra at the same time, before she pulls Serena back down on top of her, and tugs the throw back over her.

“I’m going to have my wicked way with you, Campbell,” Bernie says, her voice practically a growl.

“I’m counting on it,” Serena purrs in response.

SC-BW-SC-BW-SC

When Bernie wakes up sometime later she cannot immediately discern where she is. Her back is uncharacteristically cold, there are no streetlights coming through the curtains, and there’s something scratchy over her legs. Then it hits her – she’d brought Serena to her cottage for a romantic break, and then there’d been a thunderstorm which had resulted in a power cut, and they’d decided to sleep on the sofa because without any heating, the bedroom was colder than the living room. Now, though, the fire’s gone out, and the throw that had been covering her when they went to sleep, has slithered down to her waist. She wonders what woke her up, then realises she can hear the quiet hum of the central heating system – which means the electricity is back.

“Whazzit?” asks Serena, her voice thick with sleep, as Bernie shifts awkwardly.

“The power’s come back on,” Bernie says. “Do you want to move to the bedroom? The bed’s more comfortable, and we’ll be warmer under the 13 tog duvet than under this throw.”

“Mmm. Yeah, okay.”

Serena sounds resigned, somehow, and Bernie suppresses a chuckle, then winces as her back twinges as she climbs off the sofa.

“You okay?” Serena sounds rather more awake now.

“Back might not have enjoyed those hours on the sofa,” she admits, then hisses as she straightens up fully.

“C’mon, soldier, let’s get you to the bed, and I’ll give you a quick massage. After I find my pyjamas.”

Bernie chuckles weakly, scoops up their mobile phones from the end table, then offers her other hand to Serena, who clasps it, then leans up to brush a kiss against the corner of Bernie’s mouth.

“Just so you know, I love your cottage. And I love you, too, of course.”

“Thanks.” She leads Serena upstairs and into the bedroom, where she pulls her own pyjamas out from under her pillow and proceeds to put them on, wincing again as her back protests, then sighing a little in pleasure at the warmth of the brushed cotton against her chilled skin. She stretches out on her stomach and watches as Serena pulls on her own pyjamas before she settles over Bernie’s knees and rubs her hands together and flexes her fingers, warming them up before she begins to massage Bernie’s neck and shoulders.

Pretty soon Bernie’s more than half asleep as Serena’s hands unlock all the tight knots in her muscles, and as she reaches the small of Bernie’s back she eventually murmurs, “Thanks love, now come and cuddle me, and let’s get some more sleep.”

“Good plan, Major,” Serena says with a soft smile. 

She stretches out beside Bernie, who rolls onto her left side, and draws her closer. “C’mon, Campbell, you can be my little spoon.”

That elicits a chuckle. “Nothing new there.” Serena rolls onto her side and Bernie wraps her arms around her.

“G’night, Serena.”

“Goodnight, my love.”

As Bernie is drifting back towards sleep she makes a mental resolve to get a generator installed at the earliest opportunity. She didn’t mind roughing it when she was serving overseas but she’d rather not rough it now she’s home.


End file.
